below: Think! or rather Stop and think. Above that, tbonez with The Forge Fury in another urban ninja squadron sticker.

below: There is a new public art installation nearing completion at the corner of Carlaw and Dundas. When the project is done, the obelisk shaped sculpture by Pierre Poussin will be in the middle of a small park. It is made of laser cut rusted metal and will feature internal LED lighting.

below: Shadows of the trees along a winding trail.

below: There really aren’t enough fairies in the world. The ones that are supposed to clean my home haven’t shown up yet either.

below: This looks like it was once an artwork pasted to a wall. An eagle’s head is still visible at the very top. Are those its feathers at the bottom by the shoes – one dark blue and one red stiletto.

below: The northwest corner of Pape and Dundas. The “This is Toronto” mural by J. Chiale is still there.

below: An old and worn sign

below: A not so old sign with three lovebot stickers on it.

below: Old cars seen in an alley. Any ideas on what model and year the brown car is?

below: Santa Claus hasn’t returned to the North Pole yet! This front yard looks quite barren

below: … compared to this one! I am happy to report that the “doll house” still exists. There is at least one Santa Claus in there!

below: Not quite every inch (centimeter!) is covered. Christopher Robin and Tigger, Ernie and a Picachu. Tweety bird in a blue jacket and a white horse, Dora the Explorer is eating an apple.

below: These stickers still exist! A Star Wars family with a dirty back window.

below: Usually if a couch is waiting for the garbage man it’s sitting closer to the edge of the street!

below: Symmetry at the back of Bruce Junior Public School built in 1923.

below: And then there is the asymmetry created when one side of a semi-divided house explodes upwards.

below: Leslieville has two murals. This one covers the side of the building plus the back in pink, red, and orange stripes. This Guidant Bikeshare mural was painted by Mediah, aka Evond Blake, in 2017.

below: Nearby at the intersection of Queen and Jones is this mural by Elicser Elliot (2016).

below: The Coca-Cola Coady Sweets ghost sign is still there but the convenience store under it has been replaced by a Spanish restaurant.

below: Queen Street East

below: This is on the wall beside a vacant lot on Queen Street East that has been empty for years.

Garrison Crossing is actually two stainless steel bridges, both over railway tracks. Both have spans of close to 50m. In the middle is a peninsula of land that is in the process of being developed into condos and a park. Almost 20 years ago there was a proposal to build a bridge here – to be opened in 2012 for the anniversary of the War of 1812. Mayor Rob Ford was opposed to it (too much money) and the plans were shelved. A change of mayor (and some help from developers) and a change of plan again. Construction began in 2016. It provides a much needed link between the two sides of the railway lands.

below: Southern span – walking north from Fort York

below: City view from the new park in the middle, train tracks (difficult to see in this picture) on two sides of the triangle.

below: Yellow construction fences still line the edge of the path through the middle section between the bridges.

below: Found – one city snowplow parking lot, between the railway tracks and Wellington Street (at the end of Walnut Ave).

below: Immediately to the east of the snowplows is the old brick building. It has its own access road from Wellington including a bridge with three arches. The road is overgrown and blocked by a fence. There is no sign by the road.

below: It took some time on google but I finally found the answer to the building above. Here it is in 1925, the year that it was built – the Wellington Destructor. It was used until the 1970s when burning garbage was banned; it has been a heritage building since 2005. I found the photo online on a CBC News webpage where there a great description of the building and its history, along with some pictures of the interior.

below: And that brings us back to the Bathurst Street bridge over the railway tracks on the south side of Front Street. Did you know that it’s officially called the Sir Isaac Brock Bridge? It spent most of its life as the Bathurst Street Bridge until 2007 when it was renamed.

below: It is a steel truss bridge that was built in 1903 (one of the oldest bridges in the city). It’s first life was a railway bridge over the Humber Bridge but in 1916 it was disassembled, moved to Bathurst, and reassembled.

below: Bathurst bridge, 1919, from the west (Lake Ontario is on the right hand side).

The view from the Municipal Abbatoir Building, looking southeast. The building with the water tower on top is the Matthews Blackwell meat packing company. On the left, you can see part of the cylindrical tower belonging to Consumers Gas Company

below: Someone has given this rusty guy some eyes! He too is watching out for interesting stories. He’s also thankful that you made it this far! At least he can’t roll his eyes!

Walking up Yonge Street without actually walking on Yonge Street…. with all it’s distractions and wrong turns. We eventually get somewhere and that somewhere may actually be where we want to be!

below: I didn’t know that such a place existed! It’s at Davenport and Belmont in case you feel the need….

below: I smiled even more when I went around the corner and encountered this sign

below: Toronto layers

below: The old stone stairs at Ramsden Park. A bit muddy at the bottom but that never stopped me.

below: Waiting for spring… or at least for some snow to melt.

below: An after school skate.

below: Old and new – exploring the lanes that run parallel to Yonge. This is Paul Hahn Lane.

below: Trespassers will be prosecuted. If you can’t read the sign, does it still count?

below: As you go north, Paul Hahn Lane becomes Sam Tile Lane.

below: The caterpillar isn’t where it was. Is this an Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland reference? Actually it’s a children’s clothing store but that doesn’t stop my from quoting Lewis Carroll, or at least a short passage. Alice’s interaction with the caterpillar is too long to include here!

“In a minute or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, ‘One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.’ ‘One side of what? The other side of what?’ thought Alice to herself. ‘Of the mushroom,’ said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.”

below: At Summerhill there is no way to parallel Yonge because of the train tracks. A shout out to this young man who just previous to this moment stopped to ask me if I’d taken some great photos today. I answered that it was a bit grey to get great pictures and he concurred.

below: Infrequently photographed (the daring architecture!) and not well known, this is Summerhill subway station. It has no bus connections and the only major destination nearby is the large LCBO in the old CPR station a block away (i.e. not many people use this station).

below: Something old ans something new. I was wondering if the slate tiles on the upper storey were originals when I noticed the unobtrusive addition to the white and black house.

below: Looking south towards Rosedale station (view blocked by the white and blue temporary building for the construction next to the bridge). Tall downtown buildings in the distance. The tallest one is at 1 Bloor East and it is partially hidden by the Hudson Bay Centre tower on the other side of Bloor Street (the squarish building) and another tower that I am not sure of.

below: Another of the many “it’s a street, no it’s an alley”, passages that you find in Toronto.

below: The rust and metal of an alley infill house

below: In an area of smaller narrow houses on small lots, some creativity is required if you want to expand.

below: A concrete lined hole in the ground with access from the alley but also from the street? The beginnings of a larger development?

below: Along the way I happened upon the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club in its winter plumage.

below: Foiled! I was going to walk up through and David Balfour Park but the path is blocked… so back to Yonge Street I’m afraid.

below: He looks about as happy as I felt at that moment… but at least my arm is still intact.

below: Once on Yonge Street I discovered that traffic is even worse than usual because of lane closures. Water main repairs and/or replacements by the looks of it.

below: This is now close to St. Clair Ave and a subway station so this is where I called it quits. The days are still short and although the temperatures aren’t too bad, a cup of coffee seemed like a great idea at that moment (see the Aroma sign in the upper right corner? It was calling my name).

below: Someone doesn’t seem to mind being in traffic!

Stay positive & enjoy the trip, you’ll get there!

Oh, by the way, the photos may not be anything special (the grey day and all that) but I still had fun with them.

I was driving south on Warden the other day when I spotted a large church dome.

This is St. Marks Coptic Orthodox Cathedral near Warden and Steeles. The Coptic, or Egyptian, Church is believed to have been founded by St Mark at around AD 42 in Alexandria Egypt. It split from the rest of the Christendom in 451. In the 600s, Egypt was ruled by Islamic conquerors but it wasn’t until the 12th century that Coptics became a religious minority.

Construction of the church began around 2008/9 and was completed by 2015. It was officially opened by Pope Tawadros II who is the 118th pope in the Coptic church. The Roman Catholic Church and the Coptic Church are the only two religions in the world led by a “pope”.

below: Seven large carved wood doors. The colour of the exterior is reminiscent of desert sand.

A large mosaic mural across the top of the church is almost complete. It has been grouted and now is being cleaned.

below: Come out of Egypt my son, Matthew 2:15

below: The interior of the church is massive; under the dome, the nave is just over 29m high. There is seating for 1800 people.

As I was walking around the church, I spotted another cross just to the north – the Toronto Christian Community Church – with a different style of architecture. The name of the church was also written in Chinese but the church functions in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. It was built in 2001.

It was a beautiful day on Monday when I visited the “Winter Stations” (scroll down to next blog post), cold but sunny. I decided to walk north on Woodbine since I haven’t done that for a while.

below: Playing with mirrors while waiting for the washroom at Woodbine Beach because there is only one women’s washroom (why is there only one?)

below: From portholes to demolition holes – I made it as far as Queen and Woodbine where there is a large hole in the ground

… because just north of there I discovered alleys and small streets that I don’t remember walking. Who can resist the allure of a red door?

below: I went to Norway

below: And I passed the North Pole

below: I even walked past this No Trespassing sign. The old cars parked the house behind caught my eye but this was as far as I ventured.

When there is no planned route and you’re only following your nose or sticking to the sunny side of the street, you can run into some surprises. There were a lot of older houses – here are a few of them:

below: There are still some of these Victorian rowhouses closer to downtown but I wasn’t expecting to find any here. As it turns out, this was part of the village/town of East Toronto. In 1888 it was a village with about 800 residents. It became part of the City of Toronto twenty years later (and with 4200 more people).

As it turns out, one of the streets that I walked on, Lyall Avenue, is a Heritage Conservation District. The street was surveyed in 1884 and by 1888 a few houses were built on some of the fifty yard lots. Most of the development occurred between 1909 and 1924. It was definitely a middle class neighbourhood. The full report published in 2006 appears on the City of Toronto planning department website.

below: This house stands alone. A very typical older Toronto house.

below: This tidy well-kept workers cottage can only be accessed from the lane.

below: A white picket fence and wicker furniture waiting for spring.

All of the above houses were north of Kingston Road where the lots sizes were fairly big. South of Kingston Road, the houses are narrower and close together. (or joined together).

below: This square, substantial sized brick building is on Kingston Road. Between Woodbine Avenue and Main Street, Kingston Road runs along the crest of a ridge.

below: Newer residential buildings on Kingston Road.

below: 1922, looking west along Kingston Road from Main street. That’s almost 100 years ago, and there were streetcars running here even then. No cars, just a horse and wagon.

Photo credit: City of Toronto Archives. Found online in a ‘Beach Metro’ article where you’ll find more history of the area.

The next three photos are some of the typical two storey, flat roofed, brick, all in a row, stores and businesses that were built in Toronto in the early 1900’s and later. If I remember correctly, these were all on Kingston Road.

below: A warm and colourful summer scene painting behind a chainlink fence that surrounds the playground at Kimberley Junior Public School.

below: Mural at Gerrard and Main.

below: The last architecture picture – this building with a turret at Kingston Road. Here Main Street becomes Southwood Drive.

below: Looking north on Main Street from Gerrard. Here the streetcar turns towards Main subway station. The bus shelter in the middle of the street is definitely old style – one of the few remaining in the city. From here Main street is a bridge over the railway tracks.

below: From the bridge, looking southeast over Danforth GO station. Prior to 1940, this was the location of York Station as well as the Grand Trunk Railway’s main freight yard. The yard stretched along Gerrard Street and employed several hundred people. At that time, Gerrard Street was called Lake View Avenue (could you see Lake Ontario from there?).

below: York station in 1890. It was renamed Danforth in 1922 and demolished in 1974 to make way for the GO station. The freight yard is to the right.

Photo credit: Toronto Public Library. The picture was found online in an article on Danforth station that appears on the Toronto Railway Historical Association website

below: Hanging out on the Danforth

But I didn’t hang out for long. From here to Main Street subway station is only a few steps and that was enough walking.
My writing can be almost erratic as my walking! I hope that I didn’t lose you along the way.

I walk past Davisville Junior Public School fairly often…. or should I say, I used to walk past it.

I didn’t think about it too much until I heard that it was going to be demolished – or was it going to be saved? Maybe I should take some photos of it as apparently it has some architectural value, an early 1960’s Modernist building. Then, back in November, a construction fence appeared around the property. One of those metal wire temporary fences that you see all over the city. So much for saving the building.

Photos from November:

The building was also home to the Metropolitan Toronto School for the Deaf as well as Spectrum Alternative School.

below: Notice on the fence, permit to remove 21 trees. A new elementary school is being built on the site. In the meantime (for 2 years), Davisville Junior Public is being relocated to Vaughan Road in what was previously the Vaughan Road Academy. Originally, the plan was to build the new school on the property (there was a large playground) and then tear down the old (Globe & Mail Feb 2017)

below: I past by the site for the first time in a few months and discovered that most of the school is now demolished. Only a small portion by the front entrance remains and I suspect that that won’t be around for much longer.

There is no theme to this blog post. It’s just a description of some of the things that I saw as I walked down Bathurst Street the other day after taking the 512 streetcar to St. Clair West station. In a lot of ways its like other busy Toronto streets, some houses, a few corner stores, and an alley or two along the way. A little bit of architecture and a little bit of history round out the story.

At St. Clair West and Bathurst, the northeast corner remains vacant. About four or five years ago there was a gas station and car wash on this corner. St. Clair West subway station is just to the east, just beyond the trees on the right hand side.

below: I went looking for an old photo of this corner and this is what I found. It’s from 1924. If the streetcar’s destination is Caledonia, then it is going westward. In 1924, St. Clair was the northern edge of the city and very little development had occurred here. It is interesting to note that the streetcar tracks came first, then the development. In addition, I’d love to be able to read the sign about dogs but the resolution of the photo is not good enough. An ad? A sign saying no dogs allowed? Or something else?

below: Of course, no vacant lot remains that way for long. At the moment, three 30 storey towers joined with a 6 or 7 storey podium has been proposed for the site but it is still in the re-zoning and planning stages. The light brown building to the left is St. Michael’s College School (boys school).

below: New development on the southeast corner of this intersection is almost complete. People have moved into the units above while the finishing touches are put on the lower retail floors. Developments like this are all over the city. Developments that look great (maybe?) on paper but are lackluster and banal at street level.

below: As I walked south on Bathurst, this mural caught my eye.

Words written beside the mural:“Long before concrete and steelPunctuated the landscape The land was pure and natural This mural acknowledges and honors 13 trees and 21 medicinal plants that have thrived here since time immemorial.”

The mural was funded by Toronto’s Start program (street art) and Na’Ma’Res Sagatay, a residence for indigenous men that is nearby.

I will admit that the main reason that I was walking in this area is because I wanted to check out the new public artwork that I’ve read about at Bathurst and Vaughan. It is “Three Points Where Two Lines Meet” by Christian Giroux and Daniel Young and apparently there is some controversy about it.

below: For those who don’t know that intersection, it is V-shaped. This photo shows the approach to the intersection from the north, on Vaughan. I took this photo because my first reaction to the scene was “Ugly. Ugly is what Toronto does”. From this angle the sculpture gets lost in the visual noise.

Cities have rules and regulations for public art. It needs to be weatherproof and graffiti-proof. It can’t block the view of drivers and pedestrians. No sharp edges or structures that people might hurt themselves on – note the two black poles are to prevent people from hitting their heads.

From Giroux & Young’s website: “Taking its form from the orphaned triangular site on which it sits, this artwork produces a new urban room by combining a multicoloured truss structure, the triangular plot of wild grasses it encloses, and an encircling sidewalk thats acts as a podium and plinth. Located between the converging energies of uptown and downtown, the structure densifies an intersection already clotted with utilities and challenges established forms of urbanism and spatial representation in Toronto.” Think of that what you will. While you’re thinking, you can check the website for more photos and information.

below: An interesting (unique?) roofline on what turns out to be The Occult Shop. I made one mistake – I neglected to cross the street to go inside and find out just what one can buy here.

below: These people can still be seen in the space above the doorway at 1358 Bathurst.

Continuing south on Bathurst, as you go downhill towards Davenport Road, there is a retaining wall beside the sidewalk on the west side. This wall was painted back in October 2013. The city paid $23,000 to two Brooklyn NY street artists (Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller, together known as Faile) who designed the mural and in turn paid other artists to paint it.

The mural is quite long and I only have a few pictures of bits and pieces of it.

below: Apparently Davenport Road is considered to be one of Toronto’s oldest roads. It follows the base of a ridge and provided a route between the Humber River in the west and the Don River in the east.

below: There is a park on the northwest corner of Bathurst and Davenport, The Tollkeeper’s Park. The old house, the Tollkeeper’s Cottage, is now a museum run by The Community History Project. It is open on Saturday afternoons (and some Sundays during the summer)

below: And across the road is Tollkeeper’s Lane. There are chairs everywhere in this city not usually as comfy looking as these.

below: An old Comet parked in the alley

below: Tomatoes and other vegetables growing in a front yard.

below: A hand, part of an Elicser mural. This mural, which is on both sides of the railway underpass just north of Dupont, is still there. Photos can be seen in a blog post from Nov 2014 (Yikes! Have I been blogging that long?!).

There are a few remnants of a more industrial past in the area near the railway tracks.

below: Another door – I doubt that it’s open now, or that it ever will be again.

below: These windows, and the house too, probably won’t be here much longer either.

below: A very standard row of semi-divided houses; a common sight. Hundreds (thousands?) of these were built around the city.

below: And a not so usual semi.

below: A touch of art deco.

below: Slight larger houses, with turrets even! (or is there another name for this architectural element?)

below: This is part of Coopers Hawk Lane which is just south of Dupont.